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28 Sep 2008: Ashfield Classic - winner James Grieves |
| Match Report Sunday 28th September 2008 Sports Council Ashfield Classic
James Grieves wins the final A mixed field with three Elite League stars in Ipswich's Rory Schlein, Swindon's James Wright and Wolverhampton's David Howe, three time Classic winner Carl Stonehewer of Workington, Ashfield expert and former Tigers' stalwart James Grieves, not to mention the home men led by Shane Parker, promised some exciting racing and, for once this season, the weather didn't look like becoming a factor. All home eyes, however, were focused on the competitive debut of 2009 signing Peter Juul, ahead of the young Dane's team debut against the Monarchs. Heat 1 The two Elite Leaguers got the drop at the start with Rory Schlein winning the first turn battle from James Wright, and recording a fast time in the process. Trent Leverington tried to keep on pace, but Berwick's new signing, Tamas Siki, was well adrift at the back. Schlein, Wright, Leverington, Siki - 58.1 Heat 2 Robert Ksiezak tried to anticipate the start, but referee McGregor stopped the race and called all four back. The second attempt saw James Grieves and Carl Stonehewer hit the turn with the Workington man edging ahead. Robert Ksiezak got the better of David Howe but the Wolf pushed him out of the way on turn 3 to try and join the fray. James kept the pressure on Stoney with his outside run on turn 3 lap 3 failing to pay off, but his neat cutback on turn 2 last lap saw him power down the back straight and into the lead. The Comet was startled to lose his lead and almost let David in, holding on at the finish. Grieves, Stonehewer, Howe, Ksiezak - 60.0 Heat 3 Tomas Topinka hit the turn first with Michal Makovsky, but a classic Shane Parker sweep round the outside took him to the fresh air at the front. Lee Smethills cut inside Michal on turn 2 but the Berwick man hit back with his own pass on turn 4. Tomas was not taking a Parker win as read and a good run off turn 2 lap 3 took him through on the inside on the next, only for Shane to execute his own cutback and take it on the line. Parker, Topinka, Makovsky, Smethills - 60.1 Heat 4 Mitchell Davey had a jet propelled start to hit the front and Lee Dicken powered round turn 2 to claim second, but Peter Juul had a master plan up his sleeve. The young Dane pulled off a fine inside line drive on turn 3 to draw level with Mitchell on the home straight and a hard first turn on lap 2 took him through to claim a win in his first Ashfield race. Adam McKinna couldn't get into the mix but was not far off the pace. Juul, Davey, Dicken, McKinna - 61.1 Heat 5 James Grieves sped off and it was left to Lee Dicken and Michal Makovsky to battle out the turn with the Berwick man rounding the homester on turn 2. Trent Leverington then joined the fray and he and Lee had a good scrap before the Aussie came through on the run off turn 4 lap 3. Grieves, Makovsky, Leverington, Dicken - 60.1 Heat 6 Tomas Topinka demonstrated his gating prowess to lead. Peter Juul fought out the first turn with Robert Ksiezak but the Aussie got a good run off turn 2 to settle the positions. Topinka, Ksiezak, Juul, Siki - 60.8 Heat 7 Carl Stonehewer was sharp at the start and Lee Smethills got the better of James Wright until the Elite Leaguer roared down the back straight and chased his former team-mate. The youngster tried different lines to get the breakthrough and his persistence paid off with an inside drive off the last bend taking him past the veteran. Wright, Stonehewer, Smethills, Davey - 61.0 Heat 8 Rory Schlein made the start and Shane Parker seemed to get squeezed out on the turn, but the Tigers' inspirational leader got his wheels in line off turn 2 to blast through under David Howe and secure second. Schlein, Parker, Howe, McKinna - 60.6 Heat 9 Lee Smethills made the gate to get the drop on the Tigers and Robert Ksiezak couldn't find a way through until the third lap when Lee sat mid-track on turn 3 and this gave the Aussie an open invitation to dive through the gap for the lead. That looked it until Trent Leverington's tight line on the last turn also took him through for a home 5-1 (oops forgot it was an individual meeting!). Ksiezak, Leverington, Smethills, McKinna - 61.3 Heat 10 Shane Parker jumped at the start and all four were called back. With a touch of deja vu, it was James Grieves who tried to anticipate the start second time around and again all four were called back. Finally, James made a clean getaway and sewed up another creditable win. Grieves, Parker, Siki, Davey(EF) - 61.4 Heat 11 After the antics of the previous race, James Wright was lucky to get away with a roller and made it pay off with a comprehensive victory. David Howe looked to have secured second until his bike seemed to slow at the end of lap 3, leaving an opportunity for Michal Makovsky to profit from. Wright, Makovsky, Howe, Juul - 60.4 Heat 12 Lee Dicken briefly fought out the turn with Rory Schlein while Tomas Topinka tried the outside run to relegate Carl Stonehewer to last, but the Tigers' regular 2008 guest showed his class when he nipped inside both for second behind the immaculate Ipswich man. Schlein, Stonehewer, Dicken, Topinka - 61.2 Heat 13 Carl Stonehewer made the most of his inside gate to leave Tigers' two 2008 skippers to slug it out for two laps before Shane Parker got the edge, and showing 2009 Tiger Peter Juul what he has to live up to. Stonehewer, Parker, Leverington, Juul - 60.3 Heat 14 Lee Dicken powered first into the turn ahead of David Howe with Lee Smethills rounding Tamas Siki on turn 2 and, although the Wolves stalwart tried all the way, big Lee was in command. Dicken, Howe, Smethills, Siki - 62.5 Heat 15 Tomas Topinka and James Wright fired into the turn but a super turn 2 took James Grieves between them to land right on Topinka's tail and these two fought out a terrific duel with the former Tiger falling to his first defeat by two lengths. Topinka, Grieves, Wright, McKinna - 61.5 Heat 16 Robert Ksiezak edged the start to leave Rory Schlein facing his first defeat, but the Aussie lined him up for turn 3 and a superb inside drive took him through for four wins out of four. Mitchell Davey got himself into all sorts of bother on the last lap when he failed to make turn 3 and landed in a heap with no apparent injury. Schlein, Ksiezak, Makovsky, Davey(Fell) - 61.5 Heat 17 David Howe was determined into the turn for the win and Trent Leverington cut inside Tomas Topinka to dent the Czech's hopes of making the semi-final. Howe, Leverington, Topinka, Davey - 61.1 Heat 18 Michal Makovsky appeared to clip Carl Stonehewer's front wheel and send him flying, causing Tamas Siki to lay down his bike. Referee McGregor made his first controversial call of the day when he excluded the Comet, and Carl was clearly not happy, thinking his chance to add to his three Classic wins was gone. The young Pole had to receive medical attention and was replaced by meeting reserve James McBain. As expected, Makovsky sewed this one up from the gate. Makovsky, McKinna, McBain, Stonehewer(F.Exc), Siki(NS) - 62.4 Heat 19 Shane put in a good first turn, securing first pick of gate positions in the semi, and Robert Ksiezak rounded Lee Dicken on turn 2 although it was not enough to get him into the mix for the semi-final. Parker, Wright, Ksiezak, Dicken - 61.5 Heat 20 The top two met here and it was Rory Schlein who showed first, but a good inside line from James Grieves edged him ahead. Schlein fired into turn 3 to take back the lead and, in spite of James' best efforts it was five wins on the bounce for the Witch. Schlein, Grieves, Juul, Smethills - 61.2 Semi final Carl Stonehewer got the fresh air and Shane Parker tucked in behind for the last Final place, although he had to fend off the persistent Tomas Topinka for the four laps. Stonehewer, Parker, Topinka, Wright - 61.1 Final After the public choosing of gates which gave ex Monarch Schlein a chance to wind up the crowd, it was James Grieves who made a 'Renfrewshire Rocket' start, whilst Rory got out of shape on the turn letting Carl Stonehewer through. Carl himself got into trouble on turn 2 lap 3 and this let Rory through to seal up second place, although, after his form in the qualifiers, he must have been disappointed with that. Grieves, Schlein, Stonehewer, Parker - 60.2 A good day's racing was capped with a worthy winner of the Norrie Isbister Memorial Trophy, the popular James Grieves and the chance to see some of the Elite League's best was a welcome opportunity. The presentation was made by the Glasgow Tigers' founder, Ian Hoskins, over from his home in New Zealand to attend the Veterans' dinner. Report by : John Sloss |
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